Irene Frazier's memory has faded, but the name of her favorite song, "Green Green Grass of Home," brings a smile to her face and she eases back in her chair.

Frazier, 77, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease four years ago. As her memory and health rapidly deteriorated, it became too much for her family to handle on their own. So last year, they turned to a local hospice service for help.

"It had become a little too much for me," husband Larry Frazier said. "We finally decided we needed some help."

Every day, caretakers from Amedisys, a national home health care provider with a regional office in Londonderry, come to visit Irene and her family in her Salem home. Nurses and home health aides, a chaplain, a social worker and volunteers are all part of the cast that comes to the Fraziers' home every week. Over the last year, they've become part of the family.

"They are like my sisters now," said daughter Sandra Olmstead, who lives just down the street from her parents.

The visits give Larry Frazier, an 80-year-old retired carpenter, time to go grocery shopping, garden and pick up leaves during the fall.

And Olmstead and her siblings don't need to worry as much. A three-ring notebook on the kitchen table logs every visit, and workers make themselves available for unscheduled visits.

"I don't know what we would do without it. We would have to stay right here with her all the time," Olmstead said. "It makes life a lot easier."

November is National Hospice Month, recognized by hospice providers and patients around the country.

For Simone Mason, hospice has helped her get over fears and helped her get out of the house when she needs to as her husband, Bob, faces terminal illness.

The couple sits in matching living room chairs, sharing a small footrest between them. Bob Mason, 91, has suffered from serious medical issues for the last eight years, and in April doctors recommended Simone Mason, 84, get help from a hospice program.

The time that volunteers and workers spend at the Masons' home lets Simone get out of the house, and nurses showed her how to administer morphine to her husband.

"That was a really nerve-wracking thing the first time," she said.

The hospice visits give her a chance to get out of the house to shop and visit with friends for a few hours, something she couldn't do before.

"I felt bound; it was impossible to do on my own," she said.

Like the Fraziers, the Masons have formed a special bond with the people who visit their home each week.

"It's been wonderful," Simone Mason said. "It's a bunch of friends that come and visit us every week."

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